Reduced Ball

The following is a brief summary of the major terms and their definitions used by Ball.

PLAY ANALYSIS

A TECHNIQUE ADAPTED FROM DAVID BALL’S BACKWARDs AND FORWARDs: a Technical Manual for Reading Plays

TERMS

Stasis

Intrusion

Unique Factor

Dramatic Action

Exposition

Forwards

Character

Wants vs. Obstacles

Theatrical Elements

Imagery and Title

Themes

Family Relationships

Before and After Stasis

STASIS

The status quo at the beginning of the play; the unchanging situation.

Elements of the stasis:

Where?

When?

Who?

What is the situation at the beginning of the play?

The status quo at the end of the play when “the major forces either get what

they want or are forced to stop trying.”

INTRUSION

Who/What causes the stasis to be broken?

Who/What causes the dramatic action to get underway?

What is wanted? What stands in the way of getting what is wanted?

UNIQUE FACTOR

What is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of

events setting the play into motion?

“Usually connected to the intrusion that breaks stasis.”

“Why is the play's events taking place on this particular day instead of

yesterday or last week or last year?”

DRAMATIC ACTION

A play’s primary building blocks.

“Anything that happens.”

“When one event causes or permits another event, the two events together

comprise an action.”

Actions are like dominoes toppling one into the next. Called “Trigger” and

“Heap.”

Can be examined in sequence from beginning to end; but, according to Ball, for best results they should be examined in reverse order.

EXPOSITION

Revelation of necessary information needed by the audience to understand the

play’s action.

Two types:

1. Information known to all or most of the characters.

2. Information known only to one character

At its best, such exposition involves the use of information by one character

to propel another into action.

FORWARDS

What will happen next?

Generates tension and anticipation in the audience to know the outcome.

CHARACTER

Character is revealed by what a character does. Her/his actions.

Playwrights create bones not flesh. Discover the skeleton of the character as

revealed by the actions.

Actors bring flesh to the bones of the character. They breath life into a

character.

What does a character want?

What obstacle(s) stand in the way of the character getting what is wanted?

WANTS VS. OBSTACLES

“A character’s want is opposed by some hinderance by some obstacle.”

Four types of dramatic conflict:

1. Me against myself.

2. Me against other individuals.

3. Me against society.

4. Me against fate, or the universe, or natural forces, or God or the gods.

THEATRICAL ELEMENTS

“Something is theatrical when it garners great audience attention and

involvement.”

The most important material is usually relegated to the most theatrical

moments.

IMAGERY AND TITLE

“An image is the use of something we know to tell us about something we don’t

know.”

“Images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”

Titles of plays often contain strong and important images helpful to

understanding how a play works.

THEMES

“An abstract concept made concrete by a play’s action.”

“Theme is not meaning; it is a topic in the play.”

Examine a play for theme or themes after thoroughly familiarizing yourself

with the play’s foundation elements.

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Plays often deal with family relationships.

What are the family relationships of the play?

Does the play redefine family?

BEFORE AND AFTER STASIS

What play might have been written before the play begins?

What play might be written after the play ends?